Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing renewed scrutiny after a resurfaced podcast interview in which he encouraged formerly incarcerated individuals to run for public office while speaking with a registered sex offender convicted of attempting to solicit a 14-year-old girl for sex.
The interview took place in April 2020 on the “Decarceration Nation” podcast, hosted by Joshua Hoe, a former University of Michigan debate coach who pleaded guilty in 2010 to using an online chatroom to solicit sex from someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl. Hoe served four years in prison and remains a registered sex offender.
During the conversation, Hoe asked El-Sayed what advice he would give to former prisoners considering a run for public office.
“Please do,” El-Sayed replied. “We need your voice, folks who are affected by the experiences that you’ve had uniquely need your voice.”
“I hope that you’ll run, and I hope that when you do, you’ll find me out and let me have the opportunity to support.”
El-Sayed, who was promoting his book “Healing Politics” during the interview, went on to argue that people who have experienced the nation’s “criminal punishment system” have valuable perspectives to contribute to public life.
“Folks who’ve had an experience with a deeply broken system, you have something deep to offer,” he said. “For folks who’ve had experiences with the criminal punishment system, I just think it’s so important for you to get out there to share your voice and your experiences.”
The comments have resurfaced as El-Sayed emerges as a leading contender in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), a race Democrats view as critical to their hopes of reclaiming control of the Senate.
Hoe’s criminal history was publicly known when the interview was recorded. During the podcast, he openly discussed being “formerly incarcerated” and his advocacy work for reforming Michigan’s criminal justice system. As a lobbyist for Safe & Just Michigan, Hoe later testified before state lawmakers in favor of limiting public access to Michigan’s sex offender registry and relaxing residency restrictions that prevent registered offenders from living near schools.
The resurfaced podcast also comes as El-Sayed has made criticism of President Donald Trump over Jeffrey Epstein a centerpiece of his Senate campaign. El-Sayed has repeatedly accused the Trump administration of withholding information related to Epstein.
“I’m just gonna go straight to pedophilia, frankly,” El-Sayed said during a campaign strategy call. “I’ll just be like, ‘Pedophile president decides that he doesn’t like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war.'”
El-Sayed has also built much of his campaign around opposition to Israel. He has campaigned alongside left-wing political streamer Hasan Piker and attorney Amir Makled, who previously referred to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “martyr.” El-Sayed has frequently criticized Democratic rivals for accepting support from pro-Israel organizations.
The candidate’s campaign has also drawn scrutiny following the recent federal indictment of former campaign aide Mariam Odeh, who prosecutors accused of participating in a conspiracy targeting Jewish officials, businesses, and organizations at the University of Michigan.
Beyond foreign policy, El-Sayed has long aligned himself with progressive criminal justice reforms. He previously called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), expressed support for the “defund the police” movement in now-deleted social media posts, and served on the board of the Sunrise Movement, a progressive climate organization whose members have advocated abolishing police departments.
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